Oh, yea, now I remember ..... That was Robert Daniel, Keith. One hell of a good man and before you ever met him he could have done well among the pros but for some reason he but it all aside. Do me a favor and check the telephone book and see if he still owns a Cheerleading Acadamy. I got a feelig that he will be back in competition one day soon. Just too damn much potential to waste.

Yes he had a great body and size but his passion is gymnastics. He came from money and really didn;t need to put his body through all the shit, so he quite.

Hey Onlyme, I lived and trained in honolulu in 73,74 and 75 and 79.the y.m.c.a. across from Ala Moana shopping center.Had some big boys there,a big tongan powerlifter named Philips, I believe.Also, a guy with 20.5 inch arms named Gil Bayless, super nice guy.All the pro wrestlers would train there while in town,super star Billy Graham and others.John Matuzack was training there one day, kind of a jerk.We were arguing about who could beat George Foreman and he says,me.Saw him walking down Kalakaua later that night with his shirt tied up under his pecs to show his abs,looked kind of swishy.Most of the heavy lifters trained at Nuuanu Y,but we had our share.Is Tommy Kono still around?there was another gym in a strip mall type place,I think it was Deans,also,a former Mr. America named Leong had a tiny gym downtown.Boy,sure brings back memories,in 1980 I ended up at Golds S.D.I knew all the principals involved in that gym,from Edney to Rick Stephenson,Steve Henneberry,Pat Dillon e.t.c. Hey 619,you described that Russian olypic set in the gym.I set the gym record with that set in the incline,45 degree angle,I did 348,srict,weighing 198,drug free.Remember the board on the wall with all the gym records?God,im starting to feel old.

Tommy Kono is still around, was sponsoring some on the Olympic Weightlifters at the contest at the Arnold this year. he usually goes to the O too.

Fellas, thanks so much for this thread. It's one of, if not the, best thread I've ever seen on bodybuilding. This is fantastic. At 18 years old, I have dessicated liver tabs in my middle console, and have tried the tuna shakes numerous times. I chew those liver tabs up all the time. Ha. Again, thanks guys, and I really appreciate all of these posts. I'd kill to have been around back then.

Fellas, thanks so much for this thread. It's one of, if not the, best thread I've ever seen on bodybuilding. This is fantastic. At 18 years old, I have dessicated liver tabs in my middle console, and have tried the tuna shakes numerous times. I chew those liver tabs up all the time. Ha. Again, thanks guys, and I really appreciate all of these posts. I'd kill to have been around back then.

I cant believe you guys know Don Ross......(snip)Don was from Dan Luries WBBG)(snip)Don was from Detroit and started training at the orginal Powerhouse Gym in Highland Park, Detroit-run by the Dabish brothers.....(snip)I have to say I was very surprised when Don had the big heart attack-about 10 years ago and died-he was in his 50's and in decent shape........

Those bits bring back memories. Forgot about Don competing in the WBBG. And the Dabish Bros totally slipped my mind as well. And, yes, I also forgot what finally got the Ripper. I do remember he died too young.

John Romano noted respectfully in one of his articles that the Ripper's death opened a door for him at MD.

I remember sending a fan letter to Don Ross and mentioning that a woman at an early Arnold Class "shushed" me. I guess I was cheering too loudly for her.

The Ripper sent a postcard reply, directing me to yell as loud as I like at the shows.

I may have already posted this, but I remember seeing Mike Mentzer training triceps at the old Lancaster Health Spa, a gym that had been located in the lower level of the Park City Mall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Walked in to the one area of the gym and saw what I initially perceived as a hugely fat person doing triceps pushdowns. He was faced away from me and all I could see was a wiiiiide back and inhumanly HYOoOoOMONGUS arms.

I mean there was no way anyone would have thought they were solid, muscular arms from their size, but they certainly were.

Looked twice and realized it was Mike Mentzer and that they weren't huge fat arms, but huge SOLID arms.

I graduated from the same high school as Mike and his brother Ray, Ephrata High School. Ray was a member of the school's 30 Pin Club.

Attended a signing at the Ephrata Rec Center. Ray Mentzer was appearing and signing autographs. I drew a picture of him, made photocopies for Mentzer to autograph, and Ray signed the original for me. That was more than 30 years ago. Have no idea what ever happened to that drawing.

I may have already posted this, but I remember seeing Mike Mentzer training triceps at the old Lancaster Health Spa, a gym that had been located in the lower level of the Park City Mall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Walked in to the one area of the gym and saw what I initially perceived as a hugely fat person doing triceps pushdowns. He was faced away from me and all I could see was a wiiiiide back and inhumanly HYOoOoOMONGUS arms.

I mean there was no way anyone would have thought they were solid, muscular arms from their size, but they certainly were.

Looked twice and realized it was Mike Mentzer and that they weren't huge fat arms, but huge SOLID arms.

I graduated from the same high school as Mike and his brother Ray, Ephrata High School. Ray was a member of the school's 30 Pin Club.

Attended a signing at the Ephrata Rec Center. Ray Mentzer was appearing and signing autographs. I drew a picture of him, made photocopies for Mentzer to autograph, and Ray signed the original for me. That was more than 30 years ago. Have no idea what ever happened to that drawing.

Good stuff. ray was my trainer for the World Championships in 1986. And I did a commercial with Don Ross (Gillette)

Talking about Ben Poda,if thats the same Ben that trained at Golds San Diego in the 80's,he truly was a nut.One time he freaked out at his house and the police were called,Ben ended up running through a plate glass window and was very -cut up- for awhile.He was definitly a little different.

Yes indeed,

Benny Podda was truly a nut...... I also heard that MENTZER was as big as a house.... over 250lbs and was in the midst of severe depression and ran naked down the santa monica pier. the cops were called and it was just bizarre. I talked to mike on the phone once(back in 1994) he did those phone consultations back then and he was quite the interesting cat. I wish I would have just gone through a training session with him at Gold's instead of getting advice over the telephone.

I always get a kick out of the story involving Vince Gironda, sitting down on his training partner's face, while the guy is warming up on bench and Vince has his pants pulled down. LOL!!!!! Don't know how true the story is but I am sure some guys around the iron game have heard this tale before. If it is true, that is way too funny. Imagine how irate the guy benching must have been!!!!

I always get a kick out of the story involving Vince Gironda, sitting down on his training partner's face, while the guy is warming up on bench and Vince has his pants pulled down. LOL!!!!! Don't know how true the story is but I am sure some guys around the iron game have heard this tale before. If it is true, that is way too funny. Imagine how irate the guy benching must have been!!!!

Benny Podda was truly a nut...... I also heard that MENTZER was as big as a house.... over 250lbs and was in the midst of severe depression and ran naked down the santa monica pier. the cops were called and it was just bizarre. I talked to mike on the phone once(back in 1994) he did those phone consultations back then and he was quite the interesting cat. I wish I would have just gone through a training session with him at Gold's instead of getting advice over the telephone.

Ray was 295 in 1986. He was HUGE. HIs legs and arms were just unreal. And, Podda was a nut and an asshole at the same time

Ray was 295 in 1986. He was HUGE. HIs legs and arms were just unreal. And, Podda was a nut and an asshole at the same time

This has been a fantastic thread to read. Took me a few days to read it from begining to end and I enjoyed every page.

I always thought Ray sort of took a back seat to Mike's popularity. From a lot of things I read later on, I am led to believe Ray was bigger than Mike and one of the strongest bodybuilders at Golds. 296 lbs back in 1986 was unbelievable. I started competing in 84 (midwest) and we had just gone through all the smaller Olympia winner years.... Zane, Dickerson, Columbo, Samir (but ripped) and leading into the mass years of Haney.

Somewhere in the begining someone asked about a low budget movie made about a bodybuilder who travels to the Mecca, lives in his van, and meets a girl. For some reason I remember that damn movie and I think the bodybuilder was Tim Kimber (or something like that)? Wasn't he also an owner/employee of Golds in the early 80's? I only made 2 treks to Golds. The first was with my dad when I was 15 (77' 78'?)and he took a photo of me in front of the windows. It's the same windows of the photo of Ron Tueful and girlfriend. I think that was the 2nd Golds gym location? I met Charles Glass (thought he was Robbie, he laughed), Mike Menzer was there with those sick viens and huge arms. About 3 years later I made the trip with friends and Golds was at the 3rd location. All I remember was big overhead garage doors in the back. This time (80' or 81') I met Bill Grant (he signed my Pumping Iron book) and a ton of HUGE guys I didn't know. Some of them sent me over to World Gym and told me the champs often train at both. Remember, we didn't have computers back then and the only info we got was from muscle mags!! I walked down to World and got Ferrigno's autograph after he finished. This was the World Gym that was upstairs and the windows looked out onto the street. Tiny parking garage under it where Ferrigno parked. All we ever dreamed about was getting big and moving to the Mecca to train. Only one guy ever left our humble midwest gym. He packed up his crap and his wife one day and said I'm gone there is nothing for me here. He went west to Golds and we only got letters or phone calls from him on occasion. His name was Bob Sears and until this thread I never knew what happened to him. I'm glad to hear he lived his dream and someone even compared him to Arnold. I'm also sad to hear he fell on hard times, I thought he and his wife would be together til the end. I've been trying to get ahold of our old training partners to update them on Bob and any further would be appreciated. Sorry to ramble on needlessly but I really want to thank the guys that started and kept this thread going.....Only, Sunt, 619 and all the others. Bodybuilding was A small family compared to some sports and full of unique people in the 70's and 80's. Thanks again !

Does anybody have any stories about Arthur Jones? From some of the things I've read about him, mainly from one of Ellington Darden's writings, he was a very interesting and brillant guy.

I actually went to his gym, back in the early 80's in Deland FL. It was run by El Darden and I got put thru an orginal full body naut workout. Unreal, and as hardcore as you want to be. Dr Draden was pretty adament about straying for the original Naut ideals.Place was clean but sparse and no AC on or available expcet his lil' office as I remember.

Yeah, those full-body circut routines of the nautilus training program are a great conditioning tool, but one can basically get the same conditioning effect by performing interval training on a stationary bike.

Here`s a story I was reminded about because of the talk about wrestlers..................I had just started one of my zillionth comebacks to the gym after having some personal problems,must have been late 1980`s.......not too sure.

All the WWF wrestlers were in town at the Civic Center, and a lot of them stopped in to train at the gym I worked out at................Mr. America and Mr. Universe winners Jeff King,and Matt Dufresne trained there, along with Mr. World Richard Roy, and a host of other animals that competed on a regional,local,or national level in bodybuilding,powerlifting,and arm-wrestling.

Well I went in one night to train, and I saw "Black Jack" Mulligan who was huge,as well as Virgil who was billed as the bodyguard, for I beleive his name was Ted Dibiasi the "Million Dollar Man" or some shit like that !! LOL

These guys were huge like Mulligan, but Virgil and a few of the others looked like kids standing next to King or Dufresne.........now for the highlite of the story........Ted Arcidi was also present, and the gym owner who was a pretty good powerlifter, knew him from some contests or something........anyway,I saw Arcidi doing skullcrushers with a curling bar and three 45 pound plates perside, plus a few smaller plates to boot..........incredibly strong, and did reps with this weight with ease.

After he got done training, he asked some young kid who was there, if he would go get him a milkshake and a hero sandwich...........he gave the kid a $100.00 bill and the kid went up the block to get Ted his food...........he came back with the food and Arcidi tells him to keep the change..........I couldn`t beleive it..........I woulda` went if I knew I could have made about 90 bucks doing it!! LOL

Great story. I hang around with Ted, and I tell you, he really is that generous. A great guy and friend...

Thank you very much to all the contributors to this thread - without a doubt the most interesting and informative BBing thread I've ever read, and a source of dismay to my manager here at work :-) Love the history of the sport, got to find some good books.